


Another

by My_Young_Friend



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-24
Updated: 2009-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:30:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Young_Friend/pseuds/My_Young_Friend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular opinion, Ianto does NOT want to tame Captain Jack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another

There will be another. Jack can't help it. He wasn't built to be like this. Monogamy is just a synonym for monotony and Captain Jack Harkness can't do bored. Ianto knew all of these things before anything began.

 

Unlike many of those before him, Ianto had gone into this with his eyes open. It was a rebound fling, they'd agreed. Sex, no strings, just fun. A release valve. Then Jack had been trapped and things changed. Then he'd died and they'd changed again and Ianto couldn't change them back.

That was the point of a re... of anything with Jack. It was reliable, it was safe, it was what it always was, it didn't change. You knew that, someday, in the not too distant future, it would end.

 

But it hadn't.

Three months now and no-one new. No-one had caught his eye, the flirting never went any further. It was like he'd stopped trying. And it was terrifying.

This wasn't what he wanted, permanent was never the plan. He was supposed to be another book in the echoing library of Jack's love life. Things didn't change with Jack.

Until they did.

 

And now he studied every new person they encountered, straining to hear every conversation. Did that salacious offer sound sincere, was Jack falling, was it going to end this time?

Jack caught him once. Called him into the office and stroked his hair, his face, kissed and reassured him. "You can trust me, it's nothing, don't worry." He shivered when he heard the words. Jack probably thought it was relief. Ianto knew it was fear.

 

But it can't last. It _can't_ last. Someone new, someone tempting will turn up. This will end and the world will be right again. He had to believe that, he had to have some hope. Because the thought that he'd tamed Captain Jack was a nightmare that kept him awake at night.

How many books in that echoing library had hoped to have a happy ending with Jack? How many had been seduced by the idea that things would be different, that this time would be special? Tens? Hundreds? Ianto didn't miss the irony; he'd gone in wanting a constant and found change. He wanted easy, forgettable, with no expectations and no future. He didn't know what to do with this, whatever this was.

There will be another, he'd say to himself, a mantra to comfort him as he tossed and turned, trying to sleep. There will be another.

There _has_ to be.


End file.
